What blogging means to me - UKYABA nomination

Hello everyone, bit of a soppy post coming today so I hope you don't mind! This post is part big thank you and part link drop, I thought the best way to share my blog in an awards nomination post is to share my journey. So here it is. 

Best Newcomer (0-2 years) - #UKYABA Shortlist@GoldenBooksGirl @_rebeccastobart @eenalol

— ukyaba (@ukyaba) 19 January 2018

Last week was a bit of a whirlwind. I discovered that not only was I longlisted for two blog awards -but I was shortlisted for best newcomer! I am honestly so overwhelmed that people would nominate me for any kind of blogging award. I know my blog gets regular views, those are the stats I can see, but something you can't see is the affect you have on other people. To anyone who nominated me I thank you, because this experience has made me feel so validated and has inspired me to try even harder with my blog. 

If this is the first time you are reading my blog, hello. My name is Rebecca and I'm a twenty-two-year-old media graduate from the North East. I work in retail and spend all of my free time doing bookish things like blogging and reading BUT the majority of my time is spent 'OMG'ing at how many books I need to read while being too busy tweeting to actually read them. 

Blogging to me is a form of social interaction above everything else. I felt lonely for the longest time and blogging gave me access to people I could have long and meaningful conversations with. Without blogging and the #NothernBookBloggers I wouldn't get to express myself at all, I was always too shy and reserved but blogging brought me out of my shell considerably. 

(myself, a selection of the Northern Book Bloggers and the fabulous Anna Day)

I mentioned this in my 100th blog post, but my highlight of my year of blogging was raising money for SomeoneCares, a charity who help survivors of abuse from as young as eleven. I raised money with the help of bloggers and authors by reading solidly for 24 hours. You can read more about it here. 

I recently had my One Year Blogiversary, where I announced I would be starting my own business. Taken Moons wouldn't exist in any form without the last year, this is something I'm really trying to make a go of and turn into something. Doing a creative job like this and in the book community would be a dream come true, and things like the UKYABA really make me feel like I'm reaching people.

I've tried to be an active member in the community, I've made a lot of new friends and been to a couple of book events in the last twelve months. I attended my first book launch last week for The Fandom by Anna Day, which is an amazing book by the way. I've already got three more events planned (my boss will hate me because it's always Saturdays), so hopefully I'll get to meet a lot more of you soon. 

One of my top goals for the year was to be nominated for an award and I have achieved that, you guys have already insured that I have something to fuel my ambition for the rest of the year, not to mention the giant ticket that will go on my bucket list post. 

If you are an author or UK based book blogger, you can request a voting form by emailing ukyaba@gmail.com with the subject UKYABA Shortlist Voting - Book Blogger Voting Form or UKYABA Shortlist Voting - Author Voting Form. There are so many amazing bloggers you can vote for, even if you don't vote for me, I am so grateful to be one of the choices. If you aren't sure who to vote for you definitely need to first go and check out Steph and Amy -that way you can make the most accurate decision. 

Thank you for reading my blog and supporting me so far, 

Here's to an amazing 2018!